Neha Jain: http://newzealandaviationnews.blogspot.com/5

1. Plane maker airs concerns about engine conversions

The charred remains of the downed aircraft lie near the Fox Glacier airstrip.

The manufacturer of the aircraft that crashed at Fox Glacier in September last year, killing nine people, has gone public with fears that the widespread practice of putting more powerful engines in the planes could have been a factor in that and other fatal crashes.

Hamilton-based Pacific Aerospace Limited (PAL) has suggested that the September crash, New Zealand's worst aviation disaster in 17 years, could have been avoided if its concerns had been acted on by aviation authorities.

However, the company's claims are disputed in aviation circles.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says it has extensively assessed the Fletcher FU-24 aircraft and believes it has responded appropriately to the concerns.

PAL spoke publicly after an approach by The Nelson Mail.

The company – which has had various name and other changes from the days when it manufactured the Fletcher planes until they were discontinued in the 1980s – said it had spent years trying to convince authorities that there were problems around the engine conversions, which increased the power and payload of the aircraft.

PAL directors told the Mail that 16 people in New Zealand and overseas had died in crashes involving modified Fletcher aircraft – primarily used in agriculture, but also by some skydiving operators – since rule exemptions in the late 1990s allowed the planes to be repowered and so fly with almost 40 per cent more than their designed maximum takeoff weight.

PAL had never supported the rule change.

The directors said that since a fatality near Whangarei in 2005 and another in Opotiki in 2007, both involving modified aircraft, the company had been involved in a "protracted campaign" with the CAA and the Ministry of Transport about the safety of the modified aircraft.

PAL director Pat McLaughlan said the aircraft were designed to have a 400-horsepower piston engine. Installing the turbine engines was like "putting a V8 in a Mini Minor".

2.NZ airline grounded over 'appalling' safety standards

A charter airline company whose customers include Air New Zealand and the Corrections Department has been grounded because of safety concerns.

Air National is New Zealand's largest charter airline, with nine aircraft ranging from private jets to airliners.

About 65 flights are expected to be affected if the Civil Aviation Authority's 10-day suspension of Air National's corporate air operating certificate, which began last Friday, continues.

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Air National operates two daily return flights between Christchurch and Hokitika on behalf of Air NZ, using a 19-seat Jetstream J32 turbo prop aircraft.

Air NZ said the service would instead use its own Beech 1900D and Bombardier Q300 regional aircraft to fly the route. No passengers would be affected by the grounding.

Yesterday a High Court judge said the suspension should be lifted pending a full hearing of the case but Justice Denis Clifford left it in place another 24 hours, till 4.30pm today, so the authority could appeal.

The "straw that broke the camel's back" was that flight simulator training records for two company pilots were at least wrong, possibly falsified.

The authority's lawyer, Kim Murray, said it was one of a series of incidents.

"The applicant [Air National] has an appalling history of non-compliance with minimum safety standards and suspension was inevitable when falsified training records were discovered," Mr Murray said.

But the company's lawyer, Sherridan Cook, said if that was true CAA would have acted earlier.

"Documentation issues" needed attention but the authority's concerns were far from the kind of real and imminent threat to safety that would justify stopping flights.

Justice Clifford said the company seemed to have responded generally satisfactorily to issues the authority raised. An investigation was justified, and then a decision made on suspension.

A suspension pending an investigation was more appropriate when immediate safety concerns occurred.

He was also concerned that the authority's director, Steve Douglas, suspended Air National three days after the auditor-general questioned whether authority staff were "overly helpful" to the company.

The company might not survive the loss of reputation and contracts if the suspension continued, Justice Clifford was told.

Air National's work includes charters for tourist companies – including a $4 million contract in just its second week – and Corrections Department, but it also supplies planes and crews for Eagle Air, an Air NZ subsidiary flying provincial routes.

One of the Air National private jets is a Cessna Citation I owned by publisher Barry Colman.

He said that since 2007, the company had been trying to persuade the CAA to ground the turbine-powered Fletchers, pending a full review of the CAA's certification process and the safety of the aircraft.

In 2007, the company warned then transport safety minister Harry Duynhoven of the potential for disaster because repowered Fletcher aircraft were being used by parachuting operators "carrying predominantly foreign tourists".

McLaughlan said the company was "dumbfounded" when it heard of the Skydive New Zealand crash on September 4, which killed four foreign tourists, the pilot and four accompanying skydivers, including two from the Nelson region.

PAL believed the accident could have been prevented, but it did not blame Skydive NZ.

"It's never one instance – it's a whole series of things. No-one broke the law – it's the system that allowed it to happen.

3.Chinese Visitor Surge Buoys New Zealand Tourism's `Asian Growth Burst'

Chinese tourists to New Zealand surged the most in eight years in 2010 while European and U.S. arrivals fell, encouraging the nation to woo more visitors from the world’s fastest growing economy.

The number of Chinese visitors rose by 20,450 from a year earlier in 2010, the biggest increase since 2002, according to Statistics New Zealand figures published today. Arrivals from Japan, Korea and India also increased.

China Southern Airlines Co’s start of direct flights to Auckland in April may bolster New Zealand’s tourist industry, which is the second-biggest exporter after dairy. Auckland International Airport Ltd., the country’s largest, expects to add more flights to and from China this year to meet rising demand.

“We hope to quickly grow the frequency of services from both China Southern and Air New Zealand,” Glenn Wedlock, head of business development at Auckland Airport, said in an e-mailed response to questions from Bloomberg. “We are in regular discussions with carriers.”

China Southern, the nation’s biggest airline, will start three direct services a week between Guangzhou and Auckland, New Zealand’s most populated city. The extra visitors are expected to boost New Zealand’s economy by about NZ$75 million ($58 million) a year, Auckland Airport said in a statement on Jan. 12.

Chinese Tourists

Air New Zealand Ltd., the nation’s largest carrier, already flies direct to Beijing and Shanghai five times a week. The Auckland-based carrier is seeking to increase its presence in China, Chief Financial Officer Rob McDonald said in an interview last week, without providing any details.

China is the fourth largest international tourism spender and was the fastest growing outbound market in 2009, according to UN World Tourism Organization figures.

The World Bank estimates that China’s economy will expand 8.7 percent this year, three times the pace of the U.S. The country grew 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Tourism officials expect visitors from other Asian nations will spark spending in New Zealand as arrivals from the U.S. and the U.K. remain sluggish. AirAsia BHd, the Malaysia-based budget airline, has forecast 89,000 passengers in the first year of operation of a flight between Kuala Lumpur and the South Island city of Christchurch, also starting in April.

“We’ve really got an Asian growth burst in that we’re seeing growth right across the region, and China in particular is the most important market,” Kevin Bowler, chief executive officer at Tourism New Zealand, said in an interview. “The additional aviation linkages into the southern region of China will be a considerable impetus to the growth we’ve already got.”

Foreigners’ Spending

Spending by foreign tourists rose 1.6 percent to NZ$9.54 billion ($7.4 billion) in the year ended March 31, Statistics New Zealand said in a report published in October.

Tourism earned more than the dairy industry in the year through March 31, 2010, according to the report. Annual sales of butter, cheese and milk powder have increased to a record NZ$10.3 billion for all of 2010.

Including domestic tourism, the industry makes up about 9 percent of gross domestic product and employment in tourist services is about 10 percent of the nation’s workforce.

Australia is New Zealand’s biggest source of visitors, with arrivals from the nation rising 3.4 percent to 1.12 million last year, today’s report showed. Asian arrivals rose by 15 percent to 453,650 while European visitors fell 5.5 percent and U.S. tourist numbers dropped 4.1 percent.

‘Bright Light’

Asia is a “bright light” in the outlook for tourism, said Nick Tuffley, chief economist at ASB Bank Ltd. in Auckland.

“There are signs of Asia visitor numbers starting to pick up,” he said in an interview. “They tend to stay, so that will be a positive development. On a per-person” spending basis “it has been a challenging time for the industry.”

Tourism New Zealand, a government agency that promotes the country internationally, forecasts China will be the fastest growing source of tourists the next seven years, rising at an average of 8.4 percent a year to reach 180,000 by 2016.

Chinese visitors spent NZ$382 million in New Zealand in the year ended Sept. 30, according to the agency. Expenditures are forecast to increase by an average 9.1 percent a year and reach NZ$619 million by 2016.

The agency said while Chinese visitors’ average spending per night is the highest of any visitors, their length of stay is the shortest of the major markets.

‘Dual Visitors’

A lot of Chinese arrivals are “dual visitors” who visit Australia as well, said Tourism New Zealand’s Bowler. Establishing more direct flights will increase the length of stay and spending, he said.

Guangzhou, in southern China, “is a more commercially developed part of China, one of richest parts,” said Bowler. “You’ve got a population of quite well travelled people relative to across China.”

China Southern has the potential to increase the frequency of its services under the terms of government agreements, he said. It could also operate larger aircrafts if needed.

4.Community mourns loved aviator

The Tauranga aviation community is reeling after the death of one of their own this week.

Eric Edwin Webster, 59, was caught under a tractor when he rolled into a pond at the rear of his Lund Rd property on Thursday night.

The family declined to talk to media yesterday.

Mr Webster was well known in local aviation and motorcycling communities, having helped establish the Classic Flyers Aviation Museum and naming the local aviation group - Classic Flyers NZ.

Friends said he led a remarkable aviation career, having become the first non-pilot to be general manger of the Red Arrows in England and later ranking as wing commander for the Royal Air Force before moving to New Zealand about 1999.

Classic Flyer board members were still shocked by the news yesterday and chairman David Love said Mr Webster's death was a tragedy. "He was a very good friend of mine."

The two men went back more than 20 years and served in the RAF together.

Mr Love said his friend was adventurous by nature.

"Even just last year he came back from south Argentina. He did 10,000km on a motorbike on gravel roads. He tried his hand at anything."

Mr Love said Mr Webster once sailed a yacht back from Hawaii, having never sailed before.

He stopped in the Cook Islands and decided to relieve a New Zealander teacher there for six months so she could visit home.

"That's just Eric to a tee. That's just who he was."

Classic Flyers NZ chief executive officer Andrew Gourlie said Mr Webster was a good, hard-working man who would be sorely missed.

"When he committed to something, he was totally committed. He never let you down.

"We lost a really strong member of the team. He operated behind the scenes but he was very, very visible to us."

Mr Webster's Red Arrows overalls are one of the displays at the museum.

Aside from flying, Mr Webster was a keen hunter and a member of the Katikati Folk Club, Katikati RSA and Katikati Ulysses Club.

He earned applause from his motorcycling peers in 2009 when he helped spearhead a campaign against ACC's controversial proposed levies for bikers.

Friend and former Lund Rd resident Nan Robinson said Mr Webster was special.

"He was very caring for the community and a fine gentleman. It's a sad loss," Mrs Robinson said.

Katikati RSA secretary John Farrell echoed Mrs Robinson's description of Mr Webster, saying he was a "real gentleman".

"Just in his manner. He was typically English," Mr Farrell said.

Mr Farrell signed Mr Webster up to the RSA shortly after he arrived at Katikati.

"I vividly remember when I asked whether he was discharged from the Air Force. He said 'John, nobody ever discharges from the Royal Air Force. You are always on call'."

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